Bulletproof
by kacikayyy
Summary: Post S2 AU. Michelle gets sent into the field for the first time. Will she succeed? Chapter 2 is coming soon.


Takes place about two months after S2. I thought it would be fun to write about Michelle's thoughts and feelings, so this is going to be very much centered around her. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 24.

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Michelle Dessler was having a bad day. Today was supposed to be her day off, yet here she was, sitting at her desk at work.

It all started with a call from Ryan Chappelle at 1:00 that morning. A lead had developed, and he needed her at the office as soon as possible. A man by the name of Jordan Flynn was planning on setting off some flash grenades in several locations before starting a massive massacre. The problem was they had no idea where nor could they locate Flynn.

A few hours after arriving at work, the lead turned out to be a dead end. Exhausted, Michelle wanted to go home, but Chappelle denied her from leaving. If something came up, he wanted one of his best agents on the case.

_Fourteen hours later, I'm still staring at the same computer screen._

Michelle looked up at Tony's office. He was on the phone and looked as bored as she felt. She started a relationship with Tony soon after the day of the nuclear bomb.

After that day, a lot of adjustments had to be made. CTU had to be rebuilt, new people had to be hired, and new promotions for both Tony and Michelle kept them busy. Jack would be back to work as head of field ops next week. Until Jack's return, Chappelle had agreed to work at CTU to help keep things running smoothly.

She thought back to the night before. Tony had come over to her apartment after leaving CTU. Originally, they had plans to go out, but late hours at work made those plans fall through. He had cooked her dinner, and too tired to do anything else, they settled down on the couch to watch a movie. Neither could tell what the movie was about since they had fallen asleep about five minutes into it. Two hours later, Ryan had interrupted their slumber.

_Well, the peace and quiet was fun while it lasted._

The ringing of Michelle's phone broke her reverie. She leaned over and picked it up. "Dessler."

"Michelle, I need to see you in my office. Do you have a moment?"

Michelle inwardly groaned. _Ugh, Ryan. I wish you would quit breathing down our necks. Five more days until you leave. Five. More. Days._

"Sure, Ryan. I'll be right there."

She hung up her phone and made her way up to Ryan's temporary office. She glanced at Tony's office, but he had disappeared.

Michelle opened Ryan's door and saw Tony leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. She had barely made it into his office before Ryan started talking.

"I need you and Tony to go pick up a witness. She is associated with Flynn."

_Always straight to the point._

Michelle looked at the folder sitting on the desk in front of her. The top page was a copy of a young woman's license. The date of birth listed confirmed that she was young, only 23 years old. "Tell me about her. Where did you get this information?"

"Her name is Sheila Lewis. She is involved with Flynn. She said that lately he's been acting strange. She found a flash drive that contains some encrypted files; these files could be nothing, but we don't want to overlook it just yet. Anyway, she contacted LAPD, and they forwarded the information to us. We could send a field team to pick her up, but it would take too long. These attacks could happen at any moment."

Michelle quickly read through the folder. "Okay."

"Michelle, there is no room for error. I know this will be your first time in the field, but I need to know if you are confident that you can do this. This could potentially be a dangerous situation."

Michelle nodded her head. "I understand, and I can do it."

"Okay. Once you have the flash drive, I need you to upload it to our server. Go get ready."

Michelle picked up the folder and walked out of the office with Tony.

Michelle turned to Tony. "So, why exactly are _we_ getting sent into the field?"

Tony shrugged. "Chappelle probably didn't want an analyst with a lower clearance to decrypt it."

"That doesn't make sense. Why doesn't he give whoever he sends a higher clearance? Besides that, why did he send you to come with me?"

Tony shrugged again. "I have no idea why he doesn't want to send someone else. I asked if I could go with you instead one of the field guys. He said no at first, but I talked him out of it."

Michelle smiled. "Oh, so you just wanted to go on a little field trip? Finally got him to sign your permission slip?"

"Yeah, I wish we were going to the museum instead, but anything is better than sitting around here."

Michelle walked into the locker room and quickly changed into standard field attire. She pulled the 9mm pistol out of the holster on her belt and checked the magazine.

She wouldn't admit it, but she was nervous. She tried to push the feeling away, but it was still in the pit of her stomach. She took a few deep breaths. She knew this day would come eventually; she just didn't expect it to be so soon.

_Focus. There is no room for error._

She secured her gun in its holster before closing her locker and walking into the bullpen.

Tony was waiting for her at her desk.

"You ready?"

Michelle nodded and grabbed her laptop from the desk. "Yeah, let's go."


End file.
